Wednesday, 16 November 2016

MANICALAND Provincial Affairs minister Mandi Chimene scoffed at
allegations by War Veterans minister Tshinga Dube that she threatened to
assault him before unleashing sangoma on him.Chimene told NewsDay yesterday that Dube’s allegations were unfounded and only motivated by sheer malice.

Dube said the incident happened in Mutare at the weekend, when he,
together with Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi and War Veterans’
ministry permanent secretary Walter Tapfumaneyi were trying to unite
ex-freedom fighters, who are deeply divided along Zanu PF factional
lines.

“Don’t you think that he is mad? If I was to assault him, he would
surely die and I will go to jail, but what use will it be,” Chimene
said.

“I have been insulted numerous times by many people. Why should I
start by assaulting him among those that have insulted me? Instead of
lying, he should tell people the real story.” She said the alleged sangoma was a student at Marymount Teachers’ College, whose relatives died during the war.She said the student often comes to war veterans meetings “possessed”
by an ancestral spirit, claiming Dube knew the person, as they met in
Mozambique during the exhumation of remains of some of the fallen
heroes.The Manicaland Provincial minister said the “student” showed up at First Lady Grace Mugabe’s rally in Chiweshe early this year.Chimene said on that particular day, the student went to the high
table and was whisked away to allow the meeting to proceed before
returning at the end, where Dube later claimed she was a sangoma
unleashed on him.“Dube should tell the nation how I threatened him. They think they
are destroying me, but they are actually giving me too much publicity
for nothing. Why are they promoting me this much? Maybe they identified
something in me that I haven’t seen and they want to destroy it as soon
as possible, but they will not succeed,” she said.Chimene said she does not lead any war veterans’ faction and the
reason why she moved a motion to expel part of the Christopher
Mutsvangwa-led executive was because he had failed to toe the Zanu PF
line.Meanwhile, war veterans yesterday agreed to work with Zanu PF ending months of feuding between the two parties.In a statement after a six-hour meeting with the War Veterans
ministry, the ex-freedom fighters said they were ready to work with Zanu
PF, provided it changed its modus operandi and put an end to purging of
those suspected of having diverted from the party’s ideologies.Under the umbrella body of Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’
Association, the Mutsvangwa-led camp told government — represented by
Dube and his top staff — that Zanu PF had been hijacked by a cabal
determined to destroy the party from within. “In this regard, they (war veterans) expressed clearly that if these
issues are not addressed urgently, the enemy pronounced intentions of
effecting regime change from within will manifest,” read a statement
following the meeting. “They saw the current rift between the party and
the war veterans as being orchestrated from within the party by
elements, who are determined to destroy the party from within at the
behest of architects of regime change.”Newsday